BCS Meetings Today: Effect on 2013, Bowl Lineups,

The BCS meetings are underway today in San Francisco with a number of issues up for discussion. With the current BCS period set to run through 2013, this is the meeting that will likely decide the specifics for the next BCS time period.

One item that will likely make it’s way to the agenda will be the possible elimination of the conference automatic qualifiers. In recent years, there have been instances where conferences within the BCS, The Big East and the ACC, have had AQ teams not ranked in the Top 25. With the AQ elimination, it would open the door for more worthy schools to grab those spots when the conference winner from a BCS conference is not ranked high enough. The move would be met with joy by all current non-BCS conferences, who would prefer a straight “win to get in” system where the top 10 ranked schools in the BCS rankings are awarded the 10 total BCS spots.

A move to drop the per-conference AQ would also work hand in hand with another proposed change: eliminating the “2 school per conference maximum” that currently exists. This would free up BCS spots to the deserving schools, and no longer penalize a school that ranks in the top 10 yet happens to be behind 2 other schools from it’s own conference. For instance, last year, Michigan St. was ranked #8, but was left out of the BCS due to Ohio St. and Wisconsin having higher BCS rankings. Meanwhile, #32 UConn and #15 Virginia Tech were awarded BCS bids.

The possible elimination of the conference AQ could drastically change things on the conference realignment front. In recent weeks, we’ve seen the Big East considering moves solely to retain it’s BCS AQ…a plan that has included adding 3 all-sports members from Florida and Texas as well as pursuing football-only members in Idaho, Utah and Colorado via Boise St., BYU and Air Force. If the BCS opts to drop the conference AQ, it could allow for cooler heads to prevail, and conferences like the Big East.

One other interesting bit from the meetings will be if the BCS opts to add a 6th game. The Cotton Bowl, to be held at the Cowboys stadium in Arlington, TX, is considered the top option for a 6th game. In adding a 6th game, a few paths could be explored. You would likely see the same-host format that now exists, scrapped, in which a stadium hosts one of the 4 bowls one week and the BCS Championship the next week. If this happened, the Cotton would likely serve as the Big 12 BCS tie-in bowl, with the Fiesta only claiming the Big 12 when the Cotton bowl served as the championship game. A 6th BCS bowl would also open the door for more total or at-large BCS bids.